Method of Manufacturing Foil Stamped Artwork

ABSTRACT

A method includes storing, in a database, different design templates. Each template includes (i) a print component configured to be printed and (ii) a foil component configured to be foil-stamped. The print component of each design template is associated with inner crop marks and outer crop marks. The foil component of each template is associated with alignment marks that are configured to be aligned with the inner crop marks for the respective template. Both the foil component and the foil alignment marks are embossed on a foil-press die.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This relates to marketing and preparing user-customized artwork thatinclude a foil stamped design component.

BACKGROUND

Artwork, such as art prints, may incorporate a design with a printedcomponent and a foil stamped component. These products may be marketedto customers via a graphical user interface (GUI).

SUMMARY

A method includes storing, in a database, different design templates.Each template includes (i) a print component configured to be printedand (ii) a foil component configured to be foil-stamped. The printcomponent of each design template is associated with inner crop marksand outer crop marks. The foil component of each template is associatedwith alignment marks that are configured to be aligned with the innercrop marks for the respective template. Both the foil component and thefoil alignment marks are embossed on a foil-press die.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system for marketing andmanufacturing artwork incorporating a design that has a customizableprint component and a non-customizable foil stamped component”.

FIG. 2A shows an example design template comprising an initial versionof the design.

FIG. 2B shows an example of the design created by a user customizing thetemplate of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method, implemented by the system, formarketing and manufacturing the artwork.

FIG. 4 is an example printed sheet, created by printing the customizeddesign's print component onto sheet stock, the printed sheet includinginner and outer crop marks.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, with additional markings thatillustrate geometric aspects of the inner and outer crop marks.

FIGS. 6-7 are views similar to FIGS. 4-5, showing a differentconfiguration for the inner and outer crop marks.

FIGS. 8A-8D show the example printed sheet at different stages in aninitial trimming procedure.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a foil press die for producing the foil presscomponent of the design.

FIG. 10 is an of how the printed sheet might appear after being foilstamped using the die of FIG. 9 before the die is properly registered.

FIG. 11A shows how the printed sheet might appear after being foilstamped using the die of FIG. 9 after the die is properly registered.

FIGS. 11B-11E show the printed-and-stamped sheet at different stages ina final trimming procedure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system 100 for marketing andmanufacturing foil-stamped artwork products. The system 100 provides agraphical user interface (GUI) through which a customers may (i) selecta design template and (ii) customize the template to generate a finaldesign for the artwork. FIG. 2A shows an example template 130 beforecustomization. The template 130 includes a print component 131 and afoil-pressed component 132. FIG. 2B shows an example of how the finaldesign 132 might appear after customization. The final design 132includes the print component 131, customized by the user, and the foilcomponent 132 that is not customizable by the user. Using the system100, the design's print component 131 is printed onto sheet stockmaterial to yield a printed sheet (piece). The sheet is trimmed, stampedwith the design's foil component 132, and then trimmed again to yield anartwork product with the final design 130.

The system 100 includes a non-transitory hardware server 101 that has atleast one processor 102. The processor 100 executes program instructionsof software code. The code is stored on a non-transitory hardwarecomputer readable data storage medium 103 to implement both the GUI andsteps of manufacturing the product. The storage medium 103 may be acomputer hard drive device of the vendor.

The GUI is used by the customer (user) to select and customize anornamental design for a artwork product. The server 101 outputs theuser-customized design to a printer 105, such as an inkjet printer,which prints the design onto printable sheet stock material to yield aprinted (printout) sheet. The sheet is trimmed (cropped) on a trimmer106. The trimmed sheet is foil-pressed (foil-stamped) on a foil press107 (foil stamping machine). Then, the sheet is trimmed again on thetrimmer 106. This yields the final artwork product ready to be shippedto the user.

The system 100 may be implemented by a vendor (manufacturer) of printedartwork products. The server 101 may host a website associated with thevendor that provides the GUI. The printer 105, the trimmer 106 and thefoil press 107 may be located in a production facility 108 of thevendor.

The GUI may be provided on a user's computing device 110. Examples ofuser computing devices are a personal computer (PC) and a mobilecommunication device such a smart phone. Each user device 110 has aprocessor 111 and a data storage medium 112. It also has a userinterface that includes a display screen 113 and a user input device114. The input device 114 may include a mouse, a keypad and atouch-screen for inputting user entries. The user device may communicatethrough a network such as the Internet 120 with the web server 101 thatimplements the website GUI. Alternatively, some or all of the softwarecode for implementing the GUI may be stored in the data storage medium112 of the user device 110 and executed by the user device's processor111, such that a server or network connection is unnecessary forselecting and customizing the design by the user.

Examples of the artwork products are art prints, business cards,posters, fliers, brochures, stationery, calendars, event invitations(e.g., for weddings and parties), personal journals (with a decorativecover and blank inner pages for writing in), and greeting cards. Theseproducts can be printed by a printer, trimmed by a cutter and stamped bya foil press. Examples of the sheet stock (flat printable stockmaterial) are paper or paper-like material, such as card stock and artpaper. Other example of the sheet stock are flat board, such as posterboard (display board) and foam core.

Examples of the trimmer 106 (paper cutter; board cutter) are aguillotine cutter and a rotary cutter (with a wheel-shaped blade). Thetrimmer 106 may include a movable cutter (e.g., guillotine blade orwheel-shaped blade) and a leveling guide rail, both attached to a flatbase.

The foil press 107 may include the following components: A paper trayholds a stack of sheets. A gripper moves each sheet, in turn, from thetray to a flat platen. A film (e.g., mylar) is positioned in front ofthe sheet. The film support a metal foil that is coated with aheat-activated adhesive. The die is secured to, and heated by, a dieplate. The die plate pushes the die forward, squeezing the film and foilbetween the die and the sheet. The heat activates the adhesive to adhereportions of the foil to the sheet. When the die is retracted, the mylarfilm is released from the sheet, leaving the portions of the foiladhered to the sheet.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of example method steps performed by the system100. The steps of this method are explained as follows:

Design templates (such as shown in FIG. 2A) are stored in a database 104of the storage medium 103 (step 201) with related data. For eachtemplate, the data may include a stock image, a stock greeting, a stockmessage to follow the greeting, and a stock color to accompany thetemplate. The data may further include information regarding inner andouter crop marks (described later). This information specifies how thecrop marks will appear when printed along with the design's printcomponent 131. The database 104 may also store images and text providedby the users to be added to the templates (e.g., in place of the stockcomponents) that the users selected.

The GUI may input a user selection of an artwork product type (e.g., artprint, greeting card, business card). The GUI may then display (step202), to the user, different templates relating to the selected producttype. The GUI inputs a user selection of one of the displayed templates.

The user may use the GUI to customize the print component 131 of thetemplate (step 203) to yield a graphic (artwork) design. Thecustomization may include uploading one or more images to be included inthe template. The customization may further entail modifying features(e.g., font, text wording, text color, background color) of the printcomponent 131. The server 101 may upload the user-customized design viathe GUI (step 204). In the example of FIGS. 2A-2B, theuser-customization entails replacing the template's stock photo of atree in the print component 131 with a user-uploaded photograph ofchildren, while the foil component 132 remains unchanged.

As user-customized designs (customer orders) are received by the server101 over the course of time (such as over the course of hours), theserver 101 may store (step 205) the received customized designs forlater printing.

The server 101 may accumulate the orders, for different templates fromdifferent customers, until the accumulation of a threshold number ofdesign orders sharing (based on) a common template or a commonfoil-press die. Then, all designs that share the common template orcommon foil-press die are sent by the server 101 to the printer 105,along with the crop marks associated with the template. The designs,with their crop marks, are printed (step 206) at the same time, oneafter the other in a batch, without interleaving the print run withdesigns based on other dies.

The printer 105 prints the print component 131 of design onto sheetstock material, to yield a printed sheet. The sheet stock may be fedinto the printer 105 from a continuous roll and then cut into the sheets(one sheet per printout item). Or the sheet stock may be fed into theprinter 105 in the form of a flat sheet. The flat sheet may containmultiple designs from multiple customers, which are later cut apart toseparate the printed sheets from each other. Or the flat sheet may besized to hold just one printed sheet per sheet.

FIG. 4 shows an example printout (printed) sheet 300. The printed sheetincludes the design's print component 131 that the customer customized.The printed sheet 300 also includes a set of printed outer crop marks311 and a set of printed inner crop marks 321. The outer crop marksinclude four pairs 311 p of lines. Similarly, the inner printed cropmarks 321 include four pairs 321 p of lines. For each template, thedatabase 104 stores the configuration of the respective template's cropmarks 311 and 321.

As shown in FIG. 5, the outer crop mark pairs 311 p are respectivelypositioned adjacent four imaginary corners 312 c (corner points) of animaginary outer rectangle 312. Accordingly, the four outer crop markpairs 311 p include an upper-left pair, an upper-right pair, alower-left pair, and a lower-right pair. Each outer crop mark pair 311 pincludes a vertical line 311 v that is collinear with an adjacentvertical edge 312 v of the imaginary outer rectangle 312 and thatextends away from the adjacent vertical edge 312 v. Each outer crop markpair 311 p further includes a horizontal line 311 h that is collinearwith an adjacent horizontal edge 312 h of the imaginary outer rectangle312 and extends away from the adjacent horizontal edge 312 h.

Similarly, the inner crop mark pairs 321 p are respectively positionedadjacent four imaginary corners 322 c (corner points) of an imaginaryinner rectangle 322. Accordingly, the four inner crop mark pairs 321 pinclude an upper-left pair, an upper-right pair, a lower-left pair, anda lower-right pair. Each inner crop mark pair 321 p includes a verticalline 321 v that is collinear with an adjacent vertical edge 322 v of theimaginary inner rectangle 322 and that extends away from the adjacentvertical edge 312 v. Each inner crop mark pair 321 p further includes ahorizontal line 321 h that is collinear with an adjacent horizontal edge322 h of the imaginary inner rectangle 322 and extends away from theadjacent horizontal edge 322 h. The outer imaginary rectangle 312surrounds the inner imaginary rectangle 322, which itself surrounds thedesign's print component 131.

All crop mark lines 311 h, 311 v, 312 h, 312 v are in-line with (extendalong an imaginary line that contains) two of the imaginary cornerpoints 312 c, 322 c.

In the example of FIGS. 5-6, the crop mark lines 311 h, 311 v, 312 h,312 v extend outward from the imaginary corner points 312 c, 322 c.Alternatively, any of the crop mark lines may be spaced away from therespective imaginary rectangle corners 312 c, 322 c. For example, in anembodiment of FIGS. 6-7, all of the crop mark lines 311 h, 311 v, 312 h,312 v are spaced away from the imaginary rectangle corners 312 c, 322 cby a spacing S.

In step 207, each printed sheet 300 is trimmed along (guided by; basedon) the outer crop marks 311. This results in the sheet 300 beingproperly sized to match the foil press' paper tray and for the design'sfoil component 132 to be pressed into the correct location on the sheet300. With reference to FIG. 8A-8D, the trimming includes cutting off upto four peripheries 331, 332, 333, 334 from the sheet 300. One exampleof trimming (cropping) is as follows:

Using the trimmer 106, the first periphery 331 is trimmed off (alongimaginary dashed “CUT” line) along two of the outer crop mark lines 311v. This leaves the sheet 300 appearing as shown in FIG. 8B, with thesheet having a new first edge 341.

Then, the new first edge 341 is held flush against the trimmer'sleveling guide rail 121 (FIG. 8B), and the second periphery 332 istrimmed off (along imaginary dashed “CUT” line) along an outer crop markline 311. This leaves the sheet 300 appearing as shown in FIG. 8C, withthe sheet having a new second edge 342.

Then, the new second edge 342 is held flush against the trimmer's guideedge 121 (FIG. 8C), and the third periphery 333 is trimmed off (alongimaginary dashed “CUT” line) along an outer crop mark line 311. Thisleaves the sheet 300 as shown in FIG. 8D, with the sheet having a newthird edge 343.

Then, the fourth periphery 334 may be trimmed off by holding the firstor third new edge 341, 342 flush against the trimmer's leveling guideedge 121, and trimming off the fourth periphery 334 at a location thatrenders the sheet a predetermined length (as measured from the secondnew edge 342 to a fourth new edge not shown). Alternatively, not allfour peripheries might need to be removed. For example, only the firstand second peripheries, or only the first, second and third peripheriesmight be removed.

In step 208, one or more walls of the foil press' paper tray (paper bin)are adjusted to match the dimensions of the trimmed printed sheet 300.The tray may include a right-side wall, a bottom wall and a left-sidewall, respectively configured to abut the right, bottom and left edges341, 342, 343 of the printed sheet 300 to keep the sheet properlypositioned. And the position of one or more of these walls may beadjusted in step 209.

Step 209 is a die registration (“make ready”) procedure in which theposition of a die of the foil press is adjusted so that the design'sfoil component will be properly positioned relative to the designs printcomponent 131. As shown in FIG. 9, the die 400 has one or more bosses(protrusions) 401 in the form of the foil component 132 of theuser-customized design. The die 400 also has other bosses in the form offoil alignment marks 402, consisting of vertical lines 402 v andhorizontal lines 402 h. This foil lines may be shaped like, or similarto, the printed inner marks 321 v, 321 h. The foil marks 402 areconfigured to be aligned with the inner crop marks 321. For example, thefoil marks 402 may be configured to overlie (coincide with) the innercrop marks 321, for each foil line 402 v, 402 h to be superimposed onto(coincide with; align with) a corresponding printed line 321 v, 321 h.

To register the die 400, the die 400 for the respective design'stemplate is affixed to the foil press. The press' paper tray is filledwith (preferably identical) “blanks”, which are sheets that areimprinted (by the printer 105) with the inner crop marks 311. In thisexample, the blanks are multiple copies of one of the user-customizeddesigns. Alternatively, the blanks might include only the template ofthe customer's design or only the inner crop marks of the template ofthe customer's design. In this registration procedure, one blank isfoil-stamped with the die 400. This may result in the sheet appearing asshown in FIG. 10. Deviations (illustrated in FIG. 10 as distances D)between the foil lines 402 and corresponding printed lines 321 aredetermined (measured). The die 400 is then adjusted to minimize thisdeviation. This step, of determining and adjusting, is repeated withsuccessive blanks until the deviation is reduced to zero or aninsignificant amount (e.g., less than a predetermined threshold). Atthat point, the foil-stamp marks 403 and the printed inner marks 321coincide.

In this die-registration procedure, the deviation determination mightinclude vertical deviations (distances) between adjacent horizontallines 321 h, 402 h and horizontal deviations between adjacent verticalcrop lines 321 v, 402 v. The measurements might be direction-sensitive.For example, a distance value might be positive for a foil line 402above or rightward of a corresponding print line 321, and be negativefor a foil line 402 below or leftward of a corresponding print line 321.

The measured deviations might include an angle (angular deviation),indicative of gradual rotation of the die 400. The angular deviationmight be determined based on amount of deviation (distance) betweendifferent horizontal lines (between lines 321 h and 402 h) or deviationbetween different vertical lines (between line 321 v and 402 v). Forexample the angular deviation might be calculated as a function ofdifference (taking sign into account) between horizontal distances D anddifference between vertical distances D.

The die 400 may then be moved horizontally based on the horizontaldeviations D, and is moved the vertically based on the verticaldeviations D, and rotated based on the determined angular deviation.

The measured deviation values (distances and angle) might be compared torespective predetermined horizontal, vertical and angular deviationthresholds to determine whether the deviation is insignificant.

The deviation determination might be performed by a manual measurementthat yields measured values for distance and angle, such as by a workerusing a ruler. Or might be performed by automated measurement, such asby a scanner scanning the sheets into a computer (such as the server101) and the computer distinguishing the foil marks 402 from the printedinner marks 321 and measuring distances and angles between them. Ormight be performed visually, such as by a worker visually noting adeviation and moving the die to minimize the deviation, withoutobtaining a measured deviation value.

In the above example, the registration procedure, for ensuring that thefoil component will be properly positioned relative to the printedcomponent, is performed by adjusting the position of the die.Alternatively, the registration may be formed by adjusting the positionof another part of the foil press, such as the paper tray, to achievethe same result (of properly positioning the foil component relative tothe printed component).

Step 210 is a foil stamping run. The batch of the printed sheets 300 isloaded into the foil press' paper tray. The printed sheets may havedifferent user-customized designs and may be from different customers,but they share the same die 400 and preferably are based on the sametemplate. The die 400 stamps the foil design 132 onto each printed sheet300.

Step 211 is performed during the foil stamp run. This step entailschecking for occurrence of the foil component 132 drifting out ofalignment relative to the printed component 131. During the foilstamping run, the precision of alignment of the foil marks 402 onto theprinted inner marks 321 is determined (measured). The determination maybe performed on each sheet 300 immediately after it is stamped, or afterevery n sheets have been stamped. The number n might be, for example, inthe range five through ten. The deviation determination for each sheetbeing measured might be performed before a subsequent sheet 300 isstamped. The deviation determination may be performed as described abovefor initially registering the die (step 209).

In step 212, if an absolute value of any of the deviations (horizontal,vertically or angular) is found to be significant (e.g., exceeds arespective threshold), then the position of the die 400 is adjusted tominimize the deviation, and the run is continued. Even when thedeviation warrants adjusting the die before continuing the stamping run,the previously stamped sheets may still be within specification (spec)and need not be discarded. That is because checking for die misalignmentis performed sufficiently often, and the die is re-aligned before thedeviation renders the product out-of-spec.

In step 213, each printed sheet is trimmed along (guided by; based on)the inner crop marks 221. The procedure may be similar to the procedure(step 207) for trimming along the outer crop marks. One example oftrimming (cropping) is as follows:

With reference to FIGS. 11A-11D, the trimming may include trimming offfour peripheries 431, 432, 433, 434 from the sheet 300. One example oftrimming (cropping) is as follows:

Using the trimmer 106, the first periphery 431 is trimmed off (alongimaginary dashed “CUT” line) along two of the inner crop mark lines 321v. This leaves the sheet 300 appearing as shown in FIG. 11B, with thesheet 300 having a new first edge 441.

Then, the new first edge 441 is held flush against the trimmer'sleveling guide rail 121 (FIG. 11B), and the second periphery 432 istrimmed off (along imaginary dashed “CUT” line) along an inner crop markline 321 h. This leaves the sheet 300 appearing as shown in FIG. 11C,with the sheet 300 having a new second edge 442.

Then, the new second edge 442 is held flush against the trimmer's guideedge 121 (FIG. 11C), and the third periphery 433 is trimmed off (alongimaginary dashed “CUT” line) along an outer crop mark line 321 v. Thisleaves the sheet 300 as shown in FIG. 11D, with the sheet 300 having anew third edge 443.

Then, the fourth periphery 434 may be trimmed off. This may be done byholding the first or third new edge 441, 442 flush against the trimmer'sleveling guide edge 121, and trimming off the fourth periphery 434 at alocation that gives the sheet 300 a predetermined length L. This leavesthe sheet 300 as shown in FIG. 11E, with a new fourth edge 444.Alternatively, not all four peripheries might need to be removed. Forexample, only the first and second peripheries 431, 432, or only thefirst, second and third peripheries 431, 432, 433, might be removed.

In the trimming steps 207, 213 described above, some of the crop linesare not used as a guide for trimming. They are instead removed when theperiphery they sit on is trimmed off, before they can be used forguiding the next trim step. Nevertheless, all of the crop lines may beprinted onto the sheet 300, in order to give a person, who is doing thecropping, a choice of which crop lines to use. Also, all of the innercrop lines 321 v, 321 h may be used for checking for foil die alignment(step 211) even if only some of those crop lines are used as guides forcropping.

The components and procedures described above provide examples ofelements recited in the claims. They also provide examples of how aperson of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the claimedinvention. They are described here to provide enablement and best modewithout imposing limitations that are not recited in the claims. In someinstances in the above description, a term is followed by asubstantially equivalent term enclosed in parentheses.

1. A method comprising: printing, by a printer, onto sheet stock in abatch manner, user-customized print components of designs that are basedon a common template, wherein the print component of each design isprinted along with inner crop marks and outer crop marks, to yieldrespective printed sheets, wherein the designs include a common foilcomponent, and wherein both the common foil component and foil alignmentmarks are embossed on a foil-stamp die; trimming, from each printedsheet, peripheries based on the outer crop marks, resulting in trimmedprinted sheets that include the inner crop marks; securing the die ontoa foil press; registering the die onto the foil press; foil-stamping,with the die, the foil component and the foil alignment marks onto thetrimmed printed sheets; determining a deviation of the foil alignmentmarks from the inner crop marks; and determining whether to register thedie based on the deviations.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the innercrop marks include four pairs of lines respectively positioned adjacentfour corners of an imaginary rectangle, wherein each pair includes (i) avertical line that is collinear with an adjacent vertical edge of therectangle and extending away from the adjacent vertical edge and (ii) ahorizontal line that is collinear with an adjacent horizontal edge ofthe rectangle and extending away from the adjacent horizontal edge. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the outer crop marks include four pairsof lines respectively positioned adjacent four corners of an imaginaryrectangle, wherein each pair includes (i) a vertical line that iscollinear with an adjacent vertical edge of the rectangle and extendingaway from the adjacent vertical edge and (ii) a horizontal line that iscollinear with an adjacent horizontal edge of the rectangle andextending away from the adjacent horizontal edge.
 4. The method of claim1, further comprising: trimming, from each foil-stamped sheet,peripheries from the foil-stamped sheet based on the inner crop marks.5. A method comprising: storing, in a database, different designtemplates; wherein each template includes (i) a print componentconfigured to be printed and (ii) a foil component configured to befoil-stamped; wherein the print component of each design template isassociated with inner crop marks and outer crop marks; wherein the foilcomponent of each template is associated with a set of foil alignmentmarks that are configured to be aligned with the inner crop marks forthe respective template; and wherein both the foil component and thefoil alignment marks of each template are embossed on a foil-press die.6. The method of claim 5, wherein the inner crop marks include fourpairs of lines respectively positioned adjacent four corners of animaginary rectangle, wherein each pair includes (i) a vertical line thatis collinear with an adjacent vertical edge of the rectangle andextending away from the adjacent vertical edge and (ii) a horizontalline that is collinear with an adjacent horizontal edge of the rectangleand extending away from the adjacent horizontal edge.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein each of the horizontal and vertical lines is spacedaway from the imaginary rectangle.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein theouter crop marks include four pairs of lines respectively positionedadjacent four corners of an imaginary rectangle, wherein each pairincludes (i) a vertical line that is collinear with an adjacent verticaledge of the rectangle and extending away from the adjacent vertical edgeand (ii) a horizontal line that is collinear with an adjacent horizontaledge of the rectangle and extending away from the adjacent horizontaledge.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the horizontal andvertical lines is spaced away from the imaginary rectangle.
 10. Themethod of claim 5, further comprising: displaying, by graphical userinterfaces (GUIs), the templates to each user of multiple users;receiving, by the GUIs, from each user, an indication of a templateselected by the respective user; customizing, via the GUIs, the printcomponent of each selected template based on input from the respectiveuser, to yield a customized design; storing each customized design,wherein the storing of the customized designs from the multiple usersresults in accumulating, from different users, different customizeddesigns that are based on the first template; and printing, by aprinter, the accumulated customized designs of a particular one of thetemplates onto sheet stock in a batch manner, to yield printed sheetsthat are respectively imprinted with the customized designs and theinner crop marks and the outer crop marks.
 11. The method of claim 10,further comprising: trimming, from each printed sheet, peripheries basedon the outer print crop marks, resulting in trimmed printed sheets thatinclude the inner crop marks.
 12. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: foil-stamping, with the foil press die corresponding to theparticular template, the foil component and the foil alignment marksonto the trimmed printed sheet; determining deviations of the foilalignment marks from the inner crop marks; and determining whether tore-register the die based on the deviations.
 13. The method of claim 12,further comprising: trimming, from each foil-stamped printed sheet,peripheries based on the inner crop marks.
 14. The method of claim 13,further comprising, before the foil-stamping, registering the die by:printing the inner crop marks and the outer crop marks associated withthe particular template onto sheet stock, to yield registration printedsheets; trimming peripheries from each of the registration printedsheets based on the outer crop marks, resulting in trimmed printedsheets that include the inner crop marks; foil-stamping, with the die ofthe particular template, the trimmed registration printed sheets;determining a deviation of the foil alignment marks from the inner cropmarks; and adjusting a position of the die based on the deviation tominimize the deviation.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein thedeviation is a horizontal deviation, and the method further comprises:determining an angular deviation of the foil alignment marks from theinner crop marks; and adjusting the position of the die on thefoil-stamping machine based on the angular deviation to minimize theangular deviation.
 16. A non-transitory data storage medium storing:different design templates; wherein each template includes (i) a printcomponent configured to be printed and (ii) a foil component configuredto be foil-stamped; wherein the print component of each design templateis associated with inner crop marks and outer crop marks; wherein thefoil component of each template is associated with foil alignment marksthat are configured to be aligned with the inner crop marks of therespective template; and wherein the foil component and the foilalignment marks of each template are embossed on a foil press die. 17.The non-transitory data storage medium of claim 16, wherein the innercrop marks include four pairs of lines respectively positioned adjacentfour corners of an imaginary rectangle, wherein each pair includes (i) avertical line that is collinear with a vertical edge of the rectangleextending away from the rectangle and (ii) a horizontal line that iscollinear with a horizontal edge of the rectangle and extending awayfrom the rectangle.
 18. The non-transitory data storage medium of claim17, wherein each of the lines is spaced away from the imaginaryrectangle.
 19. The non-transitory data storage medium of claim 16,wherein the outer crop marks include four pairs of lines respectivelypositioned adjacent four corners of an imaginary rectangle, wherein eachpair includes (i) a vertical line that is collinear with a vertical edgeof the rectangle extending away from the rectangle and (ii) a horizontalline that is collinear with a horizontal edge of the rectangle andextending away from the rectangle.
 20. A product manufactured using themethod of claim 1.